Hyphantria cunea, whose original home is North America, causes various damages to trees, farms and fruits by their baiting in many countries of the world such as the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe etc. The common name for Hyphantria cunea is "Fall webworm".
In Japan, just after the world war II, larvae of Hyphantria cunea eating pulatanus were found in Tokyo at first.
After this finding, the authority of Japanese Goverment tried to perfectly remove them from Japan at early stage.
It was impossible to prevent the increasing of their distribution; consequently they are found not only in the Kanto area but also in the Kansai area and the Tohhoku area.
Up to date, they are widely distributed in Japan mainly centered in town areas, which cause damage to large amounts of street trees.
It was investigated to use sex pheromones for protecting and removing Hyphantria cunea, and cooperative research was advanced for analyzing the structures of the sex pheromones by scholars of the United States and the Soviet Union.
At 1982, W. L. Roelofs et al reported that (9Z,12Z)-9,12-octadecadien-1-al (formula 4), (9Z,12Z,15Z)-9,12,15-octadecatrien-1-al (formula 5) and (3Z,6Z)-cis-9,10-epoxy-3,6-heneicosadiene (formula 6) were sex pheromones of Hyphantria cunea (A. S. Hill, B. G. Kovalev, L. N. Nikolaeva, W. L. Roelofs, J. Chem. Ecol. 8, 383 (1982)).
Though, the attractant test for Hyphantria cunea using above the 3 components was carried out in Japan and Europe, the attaction effect was very weak, so that it was impossible to make practical for the attractant compositions by using as traps to catch Hyphantria cunea.
The present inventors made a study earnestly to create attractant components having high attraction effect for Hyphantria cunea, that is, Hyphantria cunea sex pheromones having high attraction activity, furthermore the attractant compositions including such above pheromones with high attraction effect for Hyphantria cunea.